By Garcia                                             H.B. No. 2666

         75R7709 CAG-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to enforcement of certain public health and safety

 1-3     ordinances by a municipality.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 54.032, Local Government Code, is amended

 1-6     to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 54.032.  ORDINANCES SUBJECT TO QUASI-JUDICIAL

 1-8     ENFORCEMENT.  This subchapter applies only to ordinances:

 1-9                 (1)  for the preservation of public safety, relating to

1-10     the materials or methods used to construct a building or

1-11     improvement, including the foundation, structural elements,

1-12     electrical wiring or apparatus, plumbing and fixtures, entrances,

1-13     or exits;

1-14                 (2)  relating to the fire safety of a building or

1-15     improvement, including provisions relating to materials, types of

1-16     construction or design, warning devices, sprinklers or other fire

1-17     suppression devices, availability of water supply for extinguishing

1-18     fires, or location, design, or width of entrances or exits;

1-19                 (3)  relating to dangerously damaged or deteriorated

1-20     buildings or improvements; [or]

1-21                 (4)  relating to conditions caused by accumulations of

1-22     refuse, vegetation, or other matter that creates breeding and

1-23     living places for insects and rodents; or

1-24                 (5)  relating to a building code or to the condition,

 2-1     use, or appearance of property in a municipality.

 2-2           SECTION 2.  Subchapter C, Chapter 54, Local Government Code,

 2-3     is amended by adding Section 54.043 to read as follows:

 2-4           Sec. 54.043.  ALTERNATIVE ADJUDICATION PROCESSES.  A

 2-5     municipality by ordinance may adopt a civil adjudication process,

 2-6     as an alternative to the enforcement process prescribed by the

 2-7     other provisions of this subchapter, for the enforcement of

 2-8     ordinances described by Section 54.032.  The alternative process

 2-9     must contain provisions relating to notice, the conduct of

2-10     proceedings, permissible orders,  penalties, and judicial review

2-11     that are similar to the provisions of this subchapter.

2-12           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-17     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-18     passage, and it is so enacted.